1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and corresponding method for scheduling and viewing broadcast programs on the mobile terminal.
2. Discussion of the Background
Mobile terminals now provide many additional services beside the basic call service. For example, user's can now access the Internet, play games, watch videos, listen to music, capture images and videos, record audio files, etc. Mobile terminals also now provide broadcasting programs such that user can watch television shows, sporting programs, videos, etc.
For example, many mobile terminals now comply with digital broadcasting technologies such as the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) system in Europe (where the Eureka-147 standard has been adopted as the DAB standard), the Digital Audio Radio (DAR) system in the United States, the Digital Radio Broadcasting (DRB) system in Canada, the Digital Sound Broadcasting (DSB) system in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R), and the Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) in Korea.
The digital broadcasts can be received and viewed on the mobile terminals and include a variety of multimedia data such as news reports, weather and traffic information, geographic and location information, video information, and the like. Further, the digital broadcasts also include high quality CD level sound, which surpasses the sound quality of existing AM and FM radio broadcasts. Some digital broadcasting system also support bi-directional services that allow user interactions.
However, in the related art, a mobile terminal receiving a digital multimedia broadcast must first switch into a broadcasting mode to allow the user to select and view a broadcast program including a list of available broadcast programs. That is, the terminal first enters the broadcast mode, and then displays a broadcast program guide including a plurality of broadcast programs or channels that the user can select. This limited interaction causes the user inconvenience and does not sufficiently integrate other features provided by the mobile terminal. That is, the broadcast feature of the mobile terminal is activated independently of other functions on the terminal, which causes inconvenience to the user.